Ryo Hirakawa is set to make his competitive Formula 1 debut in this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, replacing Oscar in Free Practice 1. Fellow F1 Reserve Driver Pato O’Ward will participate in the end-of-season Young Driver Test.

Ryo will drive the MCL38 in the 60-minute session, completing our requirement to run rookies in two Free Practice sessions, as mandated in the Sporting Regulations.

Our first was fulfilled by Pato, who replaced Lando in the MCL38 for FP1 at his home Grand Prix in Mexico City, marking his third competitive run for McLaren’s Formula 1 team. Following this successful outing, the 25-year-old will also take part in the annual Young Driver Test on Tuesday, 10 December.

Ryo joined McLaren Racing as a Reserve Driver in September 2023 as part of our Driver Development programme. Ryo is an accomplished and experienced member of the programme and plays a key role in simulator development at the McLaren Technology Centre.

He’s also driven for the team in multiple private tests, running the MCL35M in 2023 and the MCL36 in 2024. The Japanese racer is best known for his endurance racing exploits, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2022 and the World Endurance Championship title in 2022 and 2023 with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. He was also the Super GT GT500 champion in 2017, and finished runner-up in Super Formula in 2020.

Pato joined our pool of F1 Reserve Drivers ahead of the 2024 season, but has been part of the McLaren Racing family since 2020 when he joined Arrow McLaren. Like Ryo, the Mexican plays a key role in simulator development and has driven several older McLaren cars in private tests, in addition to his three FP1 appearances.

The Mexican has spent five seasons with Arrow McLaren and finished the 2024 campaign with three wins, two podiums and second place at the Indy 500.